Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1887-06-23
INDEMNITY LANDS.
The Peoples Rights NObly Protected by
Democratic Administration.

the great indemnity DeltS OF puDnc
land are soon to be thrown open to the
settler. 1t was the attempt to rob
Guilford Miller of his farm that direct
ed the Presidents attention to the ex-
clusion of settlers from these belts.
They had been shut out not by law,
but by the action of Executive Off
GERS who were anxious to serve the
great land grant corporations In his
letter concerning the Guilford Miller
case, the President says:
latter lapse of fifteen years this large body
of the public domain is still held in reserve, 70
the exclusion of settlers, for the convenience OF
a corporate beneficiary OF the Government and
awaiting its selection, though ii is entirely GER
tain that much of this reserved land can never
be honestly claimed by said corporation Such
condition OF the public lands should no
longer continue. So far as 1t is the result OF
Executive rules and methods, these should be
abandoned"
The Secretary now shows that four
teen land grant railroad companies
have made selections in the indemnity
belts to the full extent of their rights,
and that twenty-five have chosen in
those belts all the land that is subject
to selection. The belts have been
closed to the settler for various terms,
ranging from two years to thirty seven
years. Under the rulings of the de-
partment no settler can acquire any
rights under any of the general land
laws in any part of the belts so long as
they remain withdrawn by Executive
order. There seems" says the Sec
rotary, ''to be no valid reason why
these orders of withdrawal should not be
revoked" They are to be revoked, for
the Secretary's plans for restoring the
belts to the public domain have been
approved by the President
The action taken by MIR. Cleveland
in relation to these lands will be re-
garded hereafter as one of the greatest
achievements of his Administration.
For fifteen years broad belts of public
land, covering in the aggregate 100,-
900, 600 acres or tract equal in extent
to the area of the four Middle States
and the six New England States, have.
by orders of the Interior Department,
been closed to settlers to serve the con-
veniencs of powerful corporations and
to enable these corporations to Cypress
those who might try to make homes
within the boundaries. These indem-
nifty belts should not be COMPOUNDED
with the grant belts. In the indem-
nifty belts the corporations have never
had any rights by law except the right
to select a comparatively small num-
Der of sections in the grant belts. The
boundaries of the indemnity belts were
specified, not in order that the copora-
tons might control the lands included
by them, but simply to restrict the
area within which they were allowed
to select sections in lieu of those in the
grant belts which had been acquired
by settlers before the passage of the
granting acts:
And yet the Interior Department
was for years so completely under the
control Of these corporations that all
of these indemnity belts-containing
perhaps fifty sections which the cor
porations could never acquire by law
for every one section which they could
lawfully take to make good their losses
in the grant belts -were promptly
withdrawn from settlement by depart
ment officers and have remained closed
until this day. AS we have said. this
was not done simply to suit the con-
venience and caprices of these heavily
subsidized corporations. The evidence
shows that it was done for another
purpose rs well. Settlers could not go
upon these lands and obtain title from
the Government under the Homestead
and Presumption laws, but they did go
of l. in al Ia
terms with the corporations, for, al
though the corporations knew that
they could never legally obtain title to
more than a small number of sections
they undertook to exercise control
over the whole area. They had not
picked out their sections. Who could
tell where these selections would be
made? A hoggish corporation would
prefer to pOunce upon settlers inn
proved farm if it could find one. 1t
was the efforts of some hundreds of
farmers living in an indemnity belt,
who had been oppressed by one of
these corporations, that caused the
present Land Commissioner to decide
that Miller was entitled to his farm,
and to direct that indemnity selections
must be made upon vacant land. But
before this action had been taken the
corporations had worked their will
with the unfortunate farmers and had
exacted payment in many cases for
land to which they could not give clear
title. All this jobbery must now cease.
The companies must take their legal
share, and in the remainder of this
great tract of 100000, 900 acres the set
tier will be able to secure title from
the Government under the general
land laws.-N 7. Times.
-''What answer could President
Cleveland make, inquiries the Tribune,
saif GI.oat RI.itaiIa shoIllI IIr.cro